Google is holding a press event to talk about the upcoming Google Chrome Operating System. The company is not ready to release the OS yet, and won't actually have a finished product ready for another year. But Google announced that starting today the project is open source, which means that you can download the source code today.

So what exactly is Chrome OS? It's an operating system based on a web browser called... Google Chrome. The idea is that you won't have to (or be able to) install a single application directly on your PC. Rather, all of your apps will be run from the web and all of your data will be stored in the cloud.

That doesn't mean the computer won't be able to play games or interact with USB peripherals. For instance, Google demonstrated that you can plug in a camera and watch videos using a web-based video player or copy files to cloud-based storage. And because Google has been working to give web apps access to your PC's hardware, even video games with 3D graphics should be possible as long as you have a video card that's supported by ChromeOS.

The version of ChromeOS that Google demonstrated today is still a work in progress, and we were told that the user interface could change significantly before the final product is released. But the OS already boots in just 7 seconds, and Google says it takes another 3 seconds to launch applications.

The screenshot above shows an app menu that you can use to launch some web apps. You can create permanent shortcuts to these programs by "pinning" them to the ChromeOS toolbar. See those tiny tabs at the top? Those are pinned tabs.

There will also be persistent "panels" that pop up and stay on top even when you flip between browser tabs. For instance you can bring up a Google Talk panel, a music player, or a notepad.

ChromeOS will be automatically updated each day by connecting to the web and making sure that you have all the latest updates.

What do you think? Are you ready for an OS that's effectively useless without an internet connection? While the operating system stores some data on a local storage partition, Google says it's basically just a user cache area and that data will all be synced with the web. That means if you lose your netbook or buy a new one, you should be able to pick up where you left off without missing a beat.

Stay tuned for details. The news conference is still underway. In the meantime, you can check out a few more photos after the break.

Update: You will be able to perform some tasks while offline. For instance, you can cache movies, music, or eBooks and access them while you're on a plane. But the OS is primarily designed for interacting with web services.

Update 2: If you have absolutely no intention of picking up a machine with Google Chrome OS, there's good news: All of the new features that show up in Chrome OS will be able to work with the Google Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Jay posted yesterday about the arrival of bookmark sync on Chromium for Mac, and it appears as though Linux users have been invited to the dance as well.

After finishing the updates on my Ubuntu 9.10 dual-boot, I gave the --enable-sync command line switch a go on my 64-bit Chromium install. Sure enough, sync is now working on Linux. Head to the wrench menu and press "Synchronize my bookmarks," enter your credentials, and within a few seconds your bookmarks appear.

The change is certainly making my work day a heck of a lot easier. With the LastPass extension already handling my logins and passwords and Chromium now providing cross-platform access to my bookmarks, jumping back and forth between Linux and Windows is a much smoother process.

Chromium (and Chrome) on Linux is shaping up rather nicely. I'm in agreement with the devs on this thread - it feels speedier than its Windows counterpart. With about 80% of my computing time spent in a web browser, Linux is becoming a more compelling option for me - thanks to the Chromium project.

The EC might be content with Microsoft's browser ballot screen, but that's not stopping Google from getting OEMs to turn away from Internet Explorer on their own.

Google already has deals with several OEMs to include their software, of course. They've been shipping Google Desktop on OEM pcs for quite some time now, and their plans to drop Google Chrome on new users have come to fruition as well.

As you can see, I unboxed a new Sony Vaio laptop running Windows 7 yesterday. Nestled amongst the other desktop icons was the tri-color Chrome orb.
Not only was Chrome pre-pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar, but a quick look at the internet options on the laptop revealed sad news for Internet Explorer: it had been bumped from default web browsing duties.

If we weren't already in the middle of an all-out browser war, the introduction of Google Chrome as the preinstalled default on Windows PCs could well set things off.

Hot on the heels of my roundup of 15+ great extensions for Google Chrome, I've already found some more that deserve to be mentioned. First on the list: ChromedBird.

You probably guessed from the name, but yes, it's a minimal Twitter client which you can access from Chrome's main toolbar. It hides inside a little birdie button until you want to check your stream or post an update.

ChromedBird displays the last 5 tweets in your stream and allows you to post updates - and that's it. Links you paste into your updates are automatically shortened using bit.ly. Sure, it's a pretty stripped-down Twitter experience, but it's still nice to have close at hand when browsing with Chrome.

ChromeBird is a little buggy, but it's a very early build. I'll turn a blind eye, since we only get extension support in somewhat buggy dev builds (click here to download) of Chrome (or Chromium) right now anyway.

You can find the ChromedBird .crx over at ChromeExtensions.

The latest Windows version of Google Chrome, version 4.0, is now in beta. It's reportedly a scorching 30% faster than the current release, and it includes a bookmark syncing feature that's been floating around in the developer preview version of the browser for some time.

Activate bookmark syncing on each of your computers, and Chrome will automatically synchronize any changes to your bookmarks across all your machines. It's made possible by the magic of XMPP, which also powers Google Talk. Sound good? Go ahead and download Chrome 4.0 Beta.

This beta version of Chrome is also notable for what it leaves out: extensions support. According to Stephen Shankland at CNET, Google is reworking the extensions interface for Chrome, so that feature is disabled for now. Shankland also tracked down some news on the upcoming Chrome Mac Beta. The team working on it has been instructed to fix all their high-priority bugs by the end of the week, and it looks like getting the Mac version out is near the top of Google's to-do list.

[via CNET]

We've already mentioned other ways to power up Google Chrome. Before extensions arrived on the developer channel, Userscripts and bookmarklets were your only options. Both are still great ways to add some kick-ass functionality to Chrome. If you're running the stable or beta builds, you may want to stick to them for now.

• 10 handy Userscripts for Google Chrome users
• 15+ handy bookmarklets for Google Chrome (and other browsers, too!)

Now, onto the extensions!

If you have a favorite that I left off, feel free to share it in the comments!
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Thanks in no small part to an errant Gizmodo post this morning, the blogosphere is once again atwitter with musings of a "leaked" Chrome OS build that we can all download and enjoy.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. First and foremost, the "build" they're talking about is a fan-built Linux distro with Chrome bolted on created using SUSE Studio. Second, no official Google project is going to be hosted as a subdomain on Google Sites. No way. They've already got a domain registered for ChromeOS.

Third, it's not really that close to what Chrome OS is going to be.

Don't count on any desktop apps - such as OpenOffice and Gimp - to be included. The aim as I understand it from sources at Google is to provide a portable computing experience that relies very heavily upon access to the cloud.

Google's vision is for you to boot, sign in to the OS using their single sign-on cookie which preps your browser to access all your Google goodies (GMail, Docs, Picasa Web, etc.), and get down to business with the Chrome browser. Sign out of your session on your netbook, sign in on your desktop onto which you've managed to get Chrome OS installed and your desktop will look exactly as you left it on your netbook. Your sessions are saved in the cloud and follow you from machine to machine.

For users who want a fast-booting alternative with quick access to a browser, Chrome OS might be the right choice. Personally, though, my Windows 7 and Fedora installs resume very quickly from sleep and I'd rather have access to my full-blown desktops.

Bottom line: we won't know how cool Chrome OS is until Google gives us a peek - whether that's a genuine leak or a developer build.

If you've been waiting patiently for Google Chrome to come to the Mac, but you're not an early adopter who likes to take chances with nightly builds, you'll be happy to know that the first official Developer Preview of Chrome is out now. Chrome brings speeds comparable to that other Webkit browser you may have tried on your Mac, Safari. It's also got a growing library of themes, in case the default Chrome blue turns you off.

With Safari 4 switching away from the tabs-on-top after trying them out in beta, the orientation of the tabs is Chrome's defining UI feature. Chrome's multi-process architecture also keeps one crashing tab from taking all your other tabs down with it. Sure, you can "restore all tabs" when Firefox crashes, but that's still more of a pain than it needs to be. Chrome is also making strides toward supporting extensions. It'll also import bookmarks and settings from your other browsers, so it's easy to make the switch.

[via Ars Technica]

Yes, Google, you can proudly herald this one as a major victory for your browser in my books. If other Javascript benchmarks haven't been anything you could get excited about, maybe this one will do it. Ben Firshman's Javascript NES emulator runs best in Google Chrome.

Just head on over to his site (which will likely start bogging down today as this little baby inevitably moves from Reddit to Digg), pick a game, and get ready for some early 90s video gaming excitement.

One downside: you'll have to be cool with a similarly early 90s style screen (think original Gameboy). You'll only get a viewable area of about 256x240. If size isn't a major concern for you, here's a list of the games you can play:

• Contra
• Donkey Kong
• Dr. Mario
• Golf
• Legend of Zelda
• Lemmings
• Mario Bros.
• Pac Man
• Super Mario Bros.
• Tennis
• Tetris
• Tetris 2
• Zelda II
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (partially working)

JSNES works in other browsers, of course, but not quite as well. Firefox frame rates are generally reported to be about 1/10th or less those from Chrome. Safari (and most other Webkit browsers) should be up to the task.

[via Reddit]